Lost on Memory Lane
by HecateA
Summary: In a dark turn of events after the War of Gaia is won, Hera's spell is back. Those who forgot remember but the remembered ones forget. Percabeth and Jeyna. Oneshot


**Okay dudes, one last story with Jason/Reyna feels (I AM TOTALLY IGNORING THE LEAKED MARK OF ATHENA CHAPTERS) and some Percabeth to make it sweet. I hope you like this because I'm quite proud!**

**Disclaimer: Me no own**

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**Lost on Memory Lane**

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_Camp Jupiter_

"'Morning Sunshine, you look happy today." Jason commented as Reyna stepped out of the praetors' house at the same time as him.

She turned to look at him eyebrows knit. Her hand closed on her knife's hilt.

"Rey?" Jason asked. He walked closer. Something in her eyes wasn't right. "Are you okay..?"

"Who…" The colour drained from her face and her eyes rolled up in her skull.

She passed out and he had to run to catch her.

_Camp Half-Blood_

Annabeth nearly had a heart attack when arms wrapped around her waist from behind after lunch, and Percy took a step back.

"Sorry. Too soon after the war to surprise you?" He asked. She turned around her eyes vicious. What did he think he was doing?

"Don't touch me," she said. "Who do you think you are?"

"Umm, sorry Annabeth." Percy said. "Did I do anything wrong?"

Her eyes softened up and the grey got a whole lot clearer.

"Wrong- wrong, you didn't…"

"Whoa, steady, are you okay?" Percy said taking her arm.

She fell in his and fainted before he could even call for a medic.

_Camp Jupiter_

"Jason," Frank said peeking into the principia. He nudged his head towards the door and Jason got the point. His heart did a retarded twirl leap inside his chest.

"Octavian, I have another matter to attend to and I think that that's enough for today. We can continue tomorrow."

"Alright," Octavian said in that way that reminded Jason of that guy in movies who hugged you and then stabbed you through the back.

Jason followed him out. Frank shot him death glares as Octavian left. They waited for him to be away before Jason asked what was going on. Frank said that Reyna had woken up and asked for him so the medic Freya had sent Hank to get Charlie and Charlie had sent Mina and Mina had sent Frank and so Frank-

"Is she okay?" Jason asked jogging towards the infirmary.

"Yeah, I think so but she was really worried about something," Frank said.

"Did she say what?"

"Yeah," Frank said. "You."

_Camp Half-Blood, later_

"Is she okay?" Piper asked walking into the infirmary a few hours later, worried. She'd had to go take over a mythology class for Annabeth.

"She's breathing and all, just knocked out." Percy said. He was sitting at her bed side, holding her hand.

"Because… well, I called Jason a few minutes ago. And Reyna fainted for no reason too."

"What?" Grover asked.

"That's what I said. They don't know what happened. It was before breakfast so it might have been dehydration or something…"

"Reyna doesn't get dehydrated after spending a day in the Sahara dessert." Percy put in.

Piper put her hands up like 'I know'. "She woke up while I was talking to him, say five minutes ago."

The hand Percy was holding closed around his fingers and he turned his head.

Annabeth was awake too.

"Percy," she said pushing herself up. Percy held her shoulder to keep her down.

"Rest up, you're okay." He said. "You just missed lunch, don't worry."

"No, no, there's a problem." Annabeth said, holding her head with her hand. "I…"

"It's fine," Percy said.

"No, it's not, you have no idea!" Annabeth said. "I… My brain felt like Jell-O and I was so confused and it was like I hadn't eaten for days…"

"Look, whatever it was, it's over," Percy said to calm her down. "You're okay." He gave her a kiss and she kissed him back. But then she pulled away.

"Percy I…" Annabeth said. Her grey arms were alarmed and pleading. "I didn't _recognise you." _

_Camp Jupiter_

"What do you mean you didn't recognise me?" Jason asked.

Reyna shook her head. "I don't know. Everything else looked familiar, but it was like you weren't supposed to be coming out of that villa."

"Who were you expecting, Octavian?"

Reyna's eyes looked deep. "I don't know. Your face was like a stranger's."

_Camp Half-Blood_

Jason was in the Camp Jupiter infirmary when the Iris message turned on. Reyna was awake, propped up on her elbows with a white sheet over her legs and armour thrown at the foot of her bed.

"Jason we've got a problem." Percy said.

"Are you in the infirmary? What happened?"

That's when the Iris message broke and instead there was Hera. She was wearing very plain hiking clothing like whatever her plans for the day had been weren't talking to half-bloods and being an imposing almighty goddess. Her face looked pale and panicked.

"We need to talk," she said. "Now."

_Camp Jupiter_

"Why?" Reyna asked. "I'm not yours. You are not my patron. Your magic-"

"My magic was very weak when I switched Jason and Percy and whipped their memories," Juno interrupted. She ran a hand through her hair. "I was a captive of Gaia, I was being tortured. M I didn't try to target you. You can thank the fates that Jason and Perseus got to where they had to be safely. But magic isn't safe and it's very dynamic as I'm sure you know, Reyna. It stays lose unless you stop it and due to consequences…"

"You didn't stop your memory charm," Reyna said.

"It didn't stop after our memories were whipped," Jason said. "So now it's affecting…"

"Reyna and Annabeth's memories," Juno nodded. "Yes. I'm sorry."

_Camp Half-Blood_

"Well you're a goddess!" Percy said. "Stop it! Fix it! Find someone who can, do voodoo, summon Merlin, whatever."

Hera groaned in frustration and walked away. Her fingers were grabbing handfuls of her hair and she looped back to demigods.

"It's been a whole month since the magic's been loose. It's too powerful and wild now."

"You can't do anything about it," Piper said weakly. "Annabeth's memory will just keep getting worst."

"The magic works in opposite," Hera said closing her eyes. "Percy remembered nothing but Annabeth. Annabeth will remember everything but Percy."

Annabeth's eyes seemed to lose focus on reality. Piper's hands flew over her mouth and Leo cocked his head to his side like 'wait what?' Grover's shoulders dropped. Percy was very still, but the first to move when he got up and walked around. He kicked the wall which surprised everyone out of their skins.

"Why didn't you stop it before?" Percy protested.

"Percy-" Annabeth started.

"Why didn't you?" Percy said. "You separated us, fine. Now you're going to… to erase us?"

"If there was anything I could do, I would do it." Hera said. "Believe me; I have never wanted to break you two apart. I may not like you, but I don't want your hearts to go through this."

"Bull," Percy snapped. "This is just you ruining everything again!"

"Percy," Grover said putting a hand on Percy's shoulder. "Calm down, man."

"No, I won't!"

"Yes you will," Annabeth snapped. Percy shut up and Annabeth swung her legs out of bed and sat up. "So what?" She asked Hera. "How much time do I have?"

"I don't know," Hera said miserably.

"What about Reyna?"

"It's impossible to tell."

"Do Reyna and Jason know about this?" Annabeth asked.

"I'm talking to them as Juno right now and letting them know what's going on."

"Now you just sound even more like a creep," Percy said.

"Shut up and calm down," Annabeth said. For someone who'd just been hit with this kind of news, Annabeth was very calm and in control. "Look, we know what's going on. We can plan, we can figure it out and make it okay."

"How?" Percy said. "How can this be okay? Annabeth, you'll… you'll forget…"

Her eyes suddenly filled with tears and the look on her face made it very clear that the only strong thing about her right now was her face.

Percy sat down next to her, cussed himself for being upset like that, and hugged her.

Her head rested in the crook of his neck and she was balled up against him like a child scared of the dark.

"It's not perfect. I did say that we'd still have to figure it out," she said quietly. "

"Yeah, we will." Percy promised, calming down. He could always calm down for her.

"I think you can leave now," Piper suggested to Hera quietly.

"We'll call if we need anything, adios Tìa," Leo said. She didn't protest. She just looked at them with sad brown eyes, closed her eyes and disappeared.

_Camp Jupiter_

"Do we tell people?" Jason asked. Reyna had been very still and very quiet for a very long time.

That's what Gwen had told him, anyways; he'd had to go man the fort so everything would look okay to the legionnaires about an hour after Juno had left. But he hadn't wanted to leave her alone, so he'd called Gwen up from the city, gave her a quick brief, and left. He'd stopped at a couple of walls and empty stores because he needed something to kick on his way to the Principia, but that was another story.

But now, lying with their legs tangled together and her head on his chest it felt even worst. In her weak times, Reyna didn't often ask for help or support. This was horrible.

"I don't know," she snapped. "I know about magic going wrong and memory loss but I don't know how to manage it or what happens next or what people are supposed to do."

"Yeah, it is kind-of particular," Jason said. The only other people ever to live through this were on the country's West Coast, probably trying to figure it out at the same time as them. His whole stomach churned.

It was his fault that a spell was doing this. His fault that her memory was going to slowly but surely become irreparably damaged. His fault that a relationship they'd both worked really hard to build would go down the drain. His entire fault.

Reyna didn't say anything. She just pressed her cheek against his chest and he brought up a shaky hand to play with her hair.

"It's going to be okay."

"Yes, for me it will, of course, seeing as I won't remember why in the world it might not be okay. I'm worried about you, Saving Grace." Reyna said.

He kissed her forehead. "Don't worry about me. Worry about you."

"You should know that it's a now inbred habit of mine to worry about you." Reyna said.

"You can teach an old dog new tricks," he said softly.

_Camp Half-Blood_

Due to exceptional circumstances, Percy wouldn't be returning to Goode that year, he'd be spending time at Camp with Annabeth. He was therefore one of the losers hauling suitcases up Half-Blood hill and helping newbies roll up sleeping bags.

He dropped Christopher's bag on top of the hill.

"What do you have in there, bricks of gold?" He asked.

"Celestial bronze; you were close." The son of Hephaestus replied. "Oh, there's your girl, don't look now."

Percy looked over his shoulder and saw Annabeth shepherding her sister, Daphne, up the hill. He smiled at her and raised a hand in salute. For a second she looked away doubtfully and then her eyes widened and she smiled and waved back.

He turned back to Christopher shocked.

Yeah, he shouldn't have looked then.

That was the first major slip of Annabeth's memory.

_Camp Jupiter_

They were doing paperwork in the Principia and chatting about a new movie that came out and that they were planning to see but would never get around to actually seeing because paperwork and Octavian and duty.

He pushed a pile over to her. They had a yellow Post-it at the top meaning that it was okay to sign them and only Reyna needed to apply a signature.

She removed the Post-it and checked out the headlines before finding the signature lines at the last page.

"Jason Grace…" She wondered out loud, looking at the signature already there.

He looked up at her, crushed, and she immediately knew that that was him.

_Camp Jupiter_

The tip of her ballpoint pen traced over her hand over and over and over, tracing the same letters and making them thick and dark against her skin.

**_Jason Grace _**

She took a deep breath and recapped her pen.

"Please work," she sighed looking down at the name. "I can't forget another time this week."

_Camp Half-Blood_

Annabeth stuck blue tack on the back of the pictures Sally had just sent her and she'd collected from camp's population, and of course her own stock. She put them up on the underside of the bunk above hers and crashed onto her bed looking up.

His face, dozens of tiny times, was looking down at her. Sometimes she was in the pictures, sometimes Grover was, sometimes Jason and Leo and Frank were, or Hazel and Piper, or Will and Jake… But him. Always him, looking down like a guardian angel.

After a few seconds of looking at him during breakfast from her table, and him looking back up with a kind of pleading in his eyes, the memory had clicked. A slow and rusty click, but a click was a click. So now she remembered. And now she knew that he was her guardian angel for sure in his own Seaweed Brain way.

She wanted to remember that every day _so badly. _

_Camp Jupiter_

Reyna was looking at him very intensely.

"What?" He asked.

"Your lip…" She said.

"What about it?" Jason asked.

"You've got a scar," she said. It seemed to confuse her to the greatest extent.

"Yes," Jason said. "I tried to eat a stapler when I was two- you love that story."

A light seemed to turn on in her eyes.

"Right, Jason, of course."

Jason didn't ask if she'd even recognised him or not.

He didn't want to risk the answer being no.

_Camp Half-Blood_

Annabeth was in charge of their Capture-the-Flag team, and she handed out jobs to all the cabins in their alliance. 9, 6, 5, 12, 15, and 16. They had a pretty solid team for the night.

"You forgot three," Percy pointed out.

Annabeth frowned.

"Three does what?" She asked.

"Poseidon," Percy said his mouth drying up. "I'm the counsellor. Percy."

"I knew that," Annabeth said to cover up her bluff. "Umm… You can go on defence."

He swore that yesterday's plan had involved him following her past the creek and into enemy territory, but he accepted it.

_Camp Jupiter_

Jason let it go, as he did every morning. He let her stare at his face in confusion and didn't move until her dark eyes landed on his scar. Then she'd smile at him and say "Up and at 'em, Grace" as if nothing had happened and as if she'd recognised him right away.

And Jason would reply "Morning Sunshine" as if nothing had happened.

_Camp Half-Blood_

"Camp necklace," Malcolm reminded her. "Sixth bead."

"Why does it matter?" Annabeth asked.

Malcolm sighed. "It just does, okay? Focus on the sixth bead."

Annabeth rolled it between her fingers. A trident on a black background, big deal. Although she was curious what the attribute of Poseidon had to do with anything. It escaped her memory, which puzzled Annabeth because her father had always insisted she have a good memory.

She walked outside. Someone was lingering there, waiting for her.

Black bead.

Trident.

Him.

Trident.

Black bead.

Percy.

"Hey," she said with a smile. He smiled at her, his eyes looked a little relieved.

"'Morning Wise Girl," Percy said. "The kitchens smell like pancakes."

"My favourite," she said with a smile. "It's going to be a good day."

"Already is," Percy said.

He wouldn't elaborate on why, though. Annabeth was pretty sure it had something to do with the sixth bead Malcolm insisted on, though.

_Camp Jupiter_

Jason felt like never moving a single inch of his person ever again in a million years for any reason. He'd just walked home from the senate with Reyna, kissed her goodnight, gone into his cabin, and had crumbled on his bed convinced that moving would never be something he'd have to do again.

They'd just had a senate meeting about Reyna's memory.

It was Jason's least favourite subject in approximately ever, and it was being discussed casually by Octavian and a bunch of senators in this great free-for-all. A little _too _casually, actually. Octavian seemed to be pleased to hear this. He'd ripped apart a Beanie Baby giraffe that hadn't deserved it and informed them that heartbreak, departure, and unemployment were near. Bull. Except maybe on the heartbreak part.

He and Reyna had had a lot of trouble, but with Frank and Dakota's help they had convinced Octavian's now minority alliance that Reyna and Jason could still work as praetors together if they made certain arrangements. It'd been an exhausting conversation and an exhausting three hours to keep his poker face on.

Really he just wanted to break down. He was tired of being strong. Reyna was really Wonder Woman, but Jason felt like… like Aquaman or something equally lame.

He'd always felt up to everything in his life. He'd always been prepared for every obstacle he'd come across, or at least prepared enough to know how to improvise. He'd been told from a young age that he was a legionnaire, so that had always come easily to him- the long hours, the training, the pushing… He'd been told he'd do great things, so he'd embraced leading the siege of Mount Othrys, being praetor and doing the paperwork and senate meetings and legion-wide drills and refereeing the war games. Losing his memory was hard; the war with Gaia was hard. This just felt… Somehow it was worst.

It wasn't logical. The war with Gaia had been a catastrophic loss of life and cause of damage throughout the world. Jason had more than once strongly considered the idea that his crew would die, that Rome would fall once and for all. It was a tragedy, and Jason would never forget it.

But this felt worst because he didn't know who to blame. Juno? Not really. She'd had to cast that spell on Jason and Percy to save the world. Long-term; she'd done the right thing. This was an accident. He didn't know how to fight this. He didn't know how to make it better.

He only knew one thing; as long as Reyna tried to remember, he'd help her memories come back. As long as she wanted to work with him, they'd make their praetorships work. They'd talk to the senate together as long as she wanted to be a pair, and when she didn't want it anymore… Well, he'd let her go and keep the memories to himself.

_Camp Half-Blood_

Annabeth was teaching a basic mythology class- basically to a few newbies and to the Stoll brothers who kept getting bumped down from higher classes because they were… well, the Stolls.

"Can someone tell me who this monster is?" Annabeth was sitting on the stone steps of the amphitheater, pointing to a picture in a book.

"That's a gorgon," a tiny daughter of Tyche said. Lucky guess.

"Exactly," Annabeth nodded. "There were three gorgons, the most famous one Medusa who was killed by Perseus in…"

It was like someone had closed a broken circuit.

"Perseus…" She said. "That's what his name is."

"Who?" A son of Apollo asked.

"The counsellor for cabin three, really it's not a problem." Annabeth said.

"Isn't he your boyfriend?" A confused guy from cabin 14 said.

A daughter of Aphrodite made a sad dying-whale sound that stretched on forever.

"No. That's absurd; I can't even remember his name." Annabeth said.

She saw his eyes –the same green as the trident on the bead- that night and realised what horrible mistake she'd made.

_Camp Jupiter_

A few Greeks had come over for a visit. Leo and Piper had been two of the first to come, excited to see Jason and Reyna, Frank and Hazel, Gwen and Dakota, and all the other friends they'd made.

Percy and Annabeth showed up late for reasons related to the amount of Pegasi camp had, met by Jason and Reyna at the entrance of the fort long after everyone else was doing whatever.

Both girls greeted each other warmly- which never stopped being alien to Jason and Percy who had expected the world to crash down.

"Hey Jason," Annabeth smiled when she saw Jason.

"Hello Jackson," Reyna said.

Both boys looked at each other a little resentfully.

They hadn't forgotten the other's name.

_Camp Half-Blood_

They were in a canoe, slowly shifting up and down on Camp Half-Blood's clean blue lake. Annabeth had her head on Percy's knees and he was supposed to be doing summer homework.

She was holding a book above her head and reading. The great thing about the fact that she was a daughter of Athena meant that she didn't ever drop books and her arms never got tired.

"What's it about?" He asked poking her forehead.

"Umm… about a bit of everything, actually. You have your action, your mystery and horror. Romance, history, science-fiction stylistics… really it's an ingenious plot."

Percy didn't reply so she sighed, sat up, and turned to face him.

"The story starts in 1865 with a Roman legion marching." Annabeth said.

"Wait- 1865? Like, BCE?"

"No," she said. "See, that's your first hint that something isn't right."

She went on to explain to him everything about the 1705 page book. Percy was kind-of just shocked that she was only about two hundred pages from the end but could still remember that the first scene with the character of Sabina the gladiatrix (female gladiator- he had to have her explain it) was in the year 66 AD, that John Skelton had brown curls, Veronica Holmes was a British femme fatale, the Mongols had popped up in chapter thirteen… Oh, and then there were of course her theories about who had caused all the warrior nations in history to meet.

"My brain died halfway into your explanation." Percy said. "How in the world did you know what a Zulu warrior was?"

"I read a lot, Seaweed Brain." She said.

"Yeah, but how do you keep it in your head and Styx?" He asked.

"I have a good memory," she said.

Oh.

The conversation kind of died. For a while it was just sad starring, but she finally cuddled up with him, leaving her book in the bottom of the boat without even keeping her page.

He mechanically put an arm around her and she put her cheek against his chest.

"I love you, right?" Annabeth said. "You do know that, don't you?"

"Yeah," Percy nodded. But his eyes looked distant. "I do."

"Your eyes don't look like it," Annabeth said.

"It's just 'cause I love you, and you love me. But one day you won't know that there's me, and how can you love someone that's not… there?"

Annabeth kissed him, her arms snaking around his neck. His arms looped around her waist and after a while they were lying down, pressed against the canoe's seats.

If Percy could freeze one moment in time it'd me this one because it was just Annabeth and him and they were alone and they were kissing in a stupid place where kissing wasn't considered a usual activity and it was sunny and quiet and perfect and she just looked amazing.

"I've done it once," Annabeth said. "I'll do it twice."

_Camp Jupiter_

"Hey cus," Percy said. "How's it going?"

Jason took a deep breath, his eyes looking at the ceiling. "Good," he said finally looking back at Percy through the IM. "I'm good. You?"

Percy nodded, looking at the ground. "How's Reyna?"

"Good," Jason said. "And Annabeth?"

"Good," Percy said. He looked up. "She has to look through her memory to figure out my face every morning."

"She forgot my name the other day." Jason blurted.

They starred at each other.

"This sucks," Percy said.

"I'm glad they never saw us trying to remember," Jason said. "Because it hurts like heck."

"Amen," Percy said. "Was it… were we that bad?"

"I was," Jason said. "I don't know about you. I wasn't there."

"I hope we're not making it worst by being there, then." Percy said.

_Camp Half-Blood_

It just so happened to be during the camp fire that Annabeth's memory came back that day.

She looked scared and defenceless as a child when Malcolm passed behind the amphitheater's bleachers and all the way around with her to deposit her with Percy. She had her jacket's neck pulled up high and the sleeves pulled over her hands. She was shaking, and Percy grabbed her in his arms right away.

Some people looked, but most pretended not to have noticed as Malcolm made his way back to Cabin 6's benches.

She buried herself in his chest and he couldn't help but think _thank gods _despite the fact that a saddened and crying Annabeth was never a good thing. It made him feel guilty and selfish.

"I'm so sorry," Annabeth said. "I don't know what's happening to me."

"It's just magic gone wrong," Percy said quietly. "It's not your fault, okay?"

"I feel guilty," she said. "And I feel bad. And I feel sick. And my head hurts."

He just hugged her more tightly. She eventually relaxed and they settled into a normal cuddly-couple camp fire position. Annabeth sat next to him, leaning against him. He draped his arm around her soldier and kept her close.

Guitars were being strummed very softly. The singing was calming. It was peaceful and quiet. Demigods had long ago quietly shuffled and rearranged themselves in couples or clicks of friends and siblings like a massive godly Tetris game.

"This is nice," Annabeth said.

"Yeah. So is the campfire," Percy said. She probably would've made a face at him any other time. Not today. She snuggled up closer to him, watching the fire crackle.

"I'm sorry it took me a day to remember." She said.

"It's not your fault, or your decision."

"No," Annabeth said. "But I still feel bad. I'm supposed to be smart. I should have figured something out."

Percy lay his head down on top of hers. "Magic isn't about smarts. It's just one of those things. Like love. Your smarts didn't control how _you _fell in love, quite obviously."

Annabeth kept going. "If my brains can't fix this whole… situation, then maybe everything else in me can." She said. "I promise that I won't forget you as long as you're here to remind me."

The flames shot up in golden sparks, flecked with pink and red and blue and black.

He kissed the top of her curly blonde head and left his lips there.

"I'll always be there to remind you," Percy said.

_Camp Jupiter_

Jason was in charge of the speech that would inform the Romans about Reyna's memory trouble. And he'd do it alone, just in case it was a bad day. Like today. Today she'd demanded his name at muster, which must've set off a lot of people.

So Jason had to wrap this up and talk about what was going on before Octavian could send off some wild rumour about Reyna being diseased or something.

He was practising in front of Gwen.

"Do not be alarmed by the current situation; the activities and official running of the fort will not be disturbed. The matter will be resolved between praetors only, this message is purely informative. Your praetors' abilities to run the fort and who they are will not change in the slightest." Jason said. He turned to her.

"Does that have any obvious slips or faults?" He asked. He didn't want to rewrite that speech, so he was praying for a no.

"No," Gwen said. "But Jason, you can't say that Reyna won't change."

"But she won't," Jason said. "She'll always be Reyna, and if not gods help us all."

Gwen shook her head and looked straight at his soul with her big brown eyes. "She will. She won't have you anymore."

Jason didn't say anything. It kept him focused on keeping himself together.

"That's the problem with you and Reyna," Gwen said. "Both of you are so tough. You're so kept together, and she's so callous and you both read each other so well usually that sometimes you forget to talk to each other about what's going on. Your relationship has always worked greatly, but now… now you need to talk, because things aren't going to stay at a stage where you can for much longer."

_Camp Half-Blood_

When she woke up that morning, all she saw above her was a giant collage.

Pictures of a guy with green eyes and black hair and a sarcastic trouble-maker smile. He was strong and tall, and definitely cute. More than cute. And he had his arm around Annabeth which must make her really lucky, only she couldn't remember who in the world he was.

_I swear on the River Styx that I know this boy and that he is very dear to me. He is the dearest thing in the world to me. He is my boyfriend. I will wake up not knowing this, but it is true, and I knew that last night which is why I wrote this note._

_Annabeth Chase_

She flipped the note.

_Name: Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon_

_Met him: Age 12, summer_

_Went on: Three quests, one war, one trip to Greece with him (he went on a quest on his own to come after you and stuff happened in between)_

_Tip: he's your boyfriend._

That kept her puzzled for the whole day, and she nearly choked on lunch's grill cheese when the note finally made sense to her.

_Camp Jupiter_

He'd made his speech. He and Reyna had answered questions throughout the day. Jason was seriously ready to go to bed.

But he and Reyna lied down in the grassy area between the villas where they usually practised sparring. He had his arm around her. She was pointing out constellations that the pirates had shown her, and Jason named the ones that Lupa had taught him.

"You look exhausted," Reyna said.

"I am," Jason said.

"The speech was hard on you. I'm sorry. But thank you for doing it, because I… well, I could only have done it about an hour ago." Reyna said.

"No problem," Jason said. "I'd do anything for you."

"Are you okay, though?" Reyna asked. In the moonlight, he could tell she was worried.

"Yes," Jason said. Something closed down around his hand and bit him. Jason yelled in surprise and saw one of the dogs, Aurum, growling at him.

He'd lied.

_Camp Half-Blood ****_

Annabeth woke up and stretched her arms. There were pictures of some guy tacked to the underside of the above bunk. Always the same guy. There was also a note, which she took out and read.

_I swear on the River Styx that I know this boy and that he is very dear to me. He is the dearest thing in the world to me. He is my boyfriend. I will wake up not knowing this, but it is true, and I knew that last night which is why I wrote this note._

_ Annabeth Chase_

She shook it from her head because it didn't make sense, and got out of bed, ready to start her day. Malcolm stopped her from leaving, dragged her to her bed and took a picture.

"Remember this guy?"

"I thought you'd put that there."

"No," Malcolm said. "He's your boyfriend. You just forget every night. Just a head's up."

"You're playing a trick on me," Annabeth said pulling her wrist away and leaving him hanging.

_Camp Half-Blood_

Chiron pulled Percy apart before breakfast. He was trying to talk to Annabeth and convince her that he wasn't a newbie and that she'd met him before.

Chiron's office was the same old as usual. New pictures were on his walls now- Greek campers, new campers, he and Lupa on Olympus (they had an unexpected and partially creepy friendship). Chiron rolled himself behind his desk and crossed his arms on it.

"Have a seat, Percy." He said.

Percy sat down. Last time that'd happened it was because there was a certain archaic boy-and-girl-in-the-same-room rule that he wanted Percy to be aware of and that conversation hadn't been pleasant for either of them.

"I think that at this point we should treat Annabeth like a sleepwalker," he said.

Percy didn't know what Chiron meant.

"We can't wake her up from this reality she has where you're not there." Chiron said. "It's too violent to her mind."

"Yeah," Percy said. "So I let her forget me?"

"You can jog her memory," Chiron said. "But don't push her on bad days when it doesn't come. She may hurt you, and she may hurt yourself."

"I'm already hurt," Percy said getting up. "So it doesn't matter."

He left before his old mentor could stop him.

_Camp Jupiter_

"We need to talk," Reyna said.

"Gwen gave you the speech too?" Jason asked.

"Yes," Reyna said. "And I agree."

"'Me too," Jason said. He looked at her.

"I don't want to forget you," she started. "Just to be clear on that."

"I knew." Jason said.

"But… I will…" Reyna said. "Rationally looking at it; it was an accident of Juno's, so that's fine."

"That's facts not feelings." Jason said.

She looked at Jason. "That would be because I don't know if I'm okay with this or not. Mostly not, because I've lost you once and I don't want to do that again. I don't want us to lose each other. But if it's inevitable… I want us to have this conversation before I lose it completely, where are _we _going?"

Jason didn't know what to say.

"If you forget me every night…" Jason said. "I don't know. It took us four years to build up to a kiss, how can we create a relationship in a day? It'll just be exhausting for us and everyone involved."

Reyna nodded.

"Let's… let's try," Reyna said. "It seems to be a good maxim for us. So let's try to keep it for as long as possible, okay? And… and when we can't…"

She couldn't finish her words, so Jason spoke up.

"We'll see," he said. He pushed a piece of her hair behind her ear. "That's another thing about you and I."

She nodded, leaned in, and kissed him. It was a regular kiss at first, but suddenly Jason realised that everything was different about it. It was still Reyna but it felt… deeper. More intense, more important, more everything. His brain missed the part where they moved but suddenly she was lying on top of him and his hands were tangled in her long, silky hair and their legs were tangled together.

Part of him was just like _I like this. _The other part was _what? _Reyna had had enough bad experience in her life that she could be, and usually was, very protective about being touched and making contact. Little known fact; this was new to both of them. People always thought that they had this huge love story behind closed doors and at night, but not really. They didn't need to make out and cuddle every second of every day to know that they were strong, and Jason had always settled for whatever-Reyna-wanted.

"Rey," he said breaking apart from the kiss. She looked down at him.

He pushed her hair over her right shoulder. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"If I… if I'm going to be _forced _to forget you, then the least I can do is to forget Blackbeard and Circe and all the bad things."

Jason just looked up and kissed her.

"You're beautiful," he said. "More beautiful than anybody."

And then kissing just took off again.

_Camp Half-Blood_

Percy was sitting next to Annabeth at the counsellor's meeting. He tried not to look at her. He tried not to make eye contact. He tried so, so hard.

He'd done on purpose to point out the trident bead on her necklace, display his, talk to her, and try to bring up inside jokes from their first quest… nothing. Her memory couldn't even be jogged by an object.

It kind of hurt to be around her without being able to shake her shoulder and say _Wise Girl, wake up, it's me, your Seaweed Brain. _

_Camp Jupiter_

Today was the first day that Jason really, really couldn't get through to Reyna.

Frank, Dakota and a few other centurions had come to him and told him to sit out the day. Go to New Rome, Camp Half-Blood, San Francisco, Berkeley, Disneyland _something. _Jason would've argued, but Reyna didn't know who he was and her memory was dead for the day, therefore had nowhere to belong.

Which was weird and foreign to Jason, because the beauty of the legion was that there was always a place for you. If not at lunch, in the war games. If not at the war games, then during training. If not during training, than at the Latin spelling bees. And if not at the spelling bees, then at least in the ranks and formations.

It was like he didn't have a major part of who he was if he didn't have her.

He settled on spending the day at Camp Half-Blood for the simple reason that Percy was there and he needed to vent. He and his cousin got along about a lot of things, and they disagreed on a lot of things, but Jason had trusted this guy before he'd even seen his face and he still did now.

Fleecy could do some serious solids to the Argo II kids and bring them to the opposite camps, so he did that, and he stumbled across Piper first. She abandoned her cabin to tackle-hug him and say hi and punch him for not visiting sooner.

"But you have more important things to do at Camp Jupiter, how are you Grace? How is everybody?" She asked.

So Jason got to hang out with the Aphrodite cabin. Most of the girls just stared at him, which was not new. Jason got the deeply uncomfortable thought that one day, when a girl made a move on him, he wouldn't be able to say 'sorry not sorry, I have a girlfriend' and stop it.

He found Will later, who was an old friend due to intensive hanging out at the baseball court, Katie who was everyone's friend, and (having decided to let Leo be in the forges until later) stumbled across Annabeth who was voyaging maps from one place to another.

"Hey Jason," she said. "What brings you here? It's not a festival day for Rome, is it?"

"No," he said. "I just got the day off."

"Well aren't you lucky?" She said teasingly. She must be like Reyna; not knowing about her own memory loss until she remembered something.

"Yeah," he lied. "Have you seen Percy?"

She frowned. "Who?"

"Percy Jackson. The son of Poseidon." He said.

"Oh. Yeah, I think he went to the canoe lake after breakfast. I don't know." Annabeth said dismissively, as if sons of Poseidon were the last thing on her mind. Jason's stomach was twisting for his cousin. "That's what he usually does anyways."

"The canoe lake's a special place for him," Jason said.

"I suppose he likes the water."

Jason didn't correct her; he just went down to the lake.

_Camp Half-Blood_

Annabeth woke up and stretched her arms. There were pictures of some guy tacked to the underside of the above bunk. Always the same guy. There was also a note, which she took out and read.

_I swear on the River Styx that I know this boy and that he is very dear to me. He is the dearest thing in the world to me. He is my boyfriend. I will wake up not knowing this, but it is true, and I knew that last night which is why I wrote this note._

_ Annabeth Chase_

She'd signed a note saying..?

She shook her head. It must be a Stoll brothers' prank- wait until she found out how they got into her cabin.

_Camp Jupiter_

"So you're the other praetor?" Reyna asked when he walked in.

"Yes," Jason said. "Jason Grace."

"Reyna," she said, not using a surname as per usual. "When did you get elected again?"

He had no answer so he tried for the truth. She didn't believe him, and so he got them late for muster after explaining the past four years best as he can.

"The dogs aren't attacking," Reyna said. "I'll… maybe I'll remember later if that's what you say is true."

Never had Jason been more thankful for those dogs.

_ Camp Half-Blood_

Percy went to bed after spending about five hundred hours in the shower. It'd been a bad day. She hadn't talked to him, hadn't said his name, and hadn't acknowledged his existence… nothing. He might've been yelling in the shower, amongst other things.

When he lied down in bed he pulled out a pen that was not Riptide and put a little mark on the bunk above him. That was the thirtieth line.

It had been thirty days since she'd last called him Seaweed Brain.

_Camp Jupiter_

Jason pulled the sleeve of his jacket down. He was pretty sure that the case was closed.

"I… I _do _think I gave you that scar." She said.

"You did," he said. "We were thirteen. I spooked you from behind during your run from the wolf house."

Reyna looked at him.

"What weapon did I use?"

"Dagger," Jason said automatically. "The one at your waist."

Reyna just kept starring. "Well, that _is _the weapon I've always used… Fine, but I'm getting a second opinion."

That was good enough for him.

Then again, so was Reyna saying his name.

_Camp Half-Blood_

For the longest time, it had like a game at camp for campers to walk in on Percy and Annabeth's romantic moments and to kill the mood. Percy had found out yesterday that Travis and Connor Stoll had been keeping a score sheet since last June.

Now it was like everyone went out of their ways _not _to burst moments.

And Percy couldn't have been more thankful because he wanted those kisses and moments and jokes while he could still have them.

_Camp Jupiter_

Jason kept thinking that her memory would collapse and she'd attack him (again). But it held strong for the whole day.

They were walking in New Rome. Wandering through shops, window shopping, looking at food they had no money for, enjoying the architecture… sure they had to stop and shake someone's hand or answer a question every now and then, and of course there were always the little kids who wanted to come tell them that they wanted their jobs or a high five (this part was fine by Jason), but it still felt like _their _day.

Finally a shop owner who'd known Jason since he was two stuck his head out of his shop, yelled at them to get back, and gave them little cakes with tons of icing. Jason thanked him, he insisted that it was the least he could do, his wife came from the back and hugged Jason and then they walked away.

Reyna put her finger in the icing of her cake, took the last bite, and then wiped it on his nose.

"Hey!" Jason said. Reyna laughed.

"Love you?" She said. Jason wasn't going to take that as an answer, so he tried to smear icing on her nose but she took off, weaving through the crowd with special skill.

Jason ran after her.

When he finally caught her she managed to smear the icing on his own finger on his face and so that was that. They were leaning against a busted aqueduct, alone, and laughing. There was no good reason. Nothing was funny. But they laughed anyways.

"One praetor chased another praetor through New Rome with a cake, and icing on his nose. This sounds great," Reyna said.

"Who cares?" Jason said, pulling her into his arms. She leaned her head back against him and he tucked his chin over her head. "It _was _great."

And if he could freeze a moment in time it'd be this one, because he was holding Reyna. And not just any Reyna, his Reyna. His Reyna that could be serious, lethal, focused and calculating, fierce and hard-core, cold and unforgiving, callous and wary, enduring and strong; but also the Reyna who could be gorgeous, playful, active, and happy.

He'd freeze the moment where his Reyna was his, and he could pull out all of the good in her that people overlooked. He'd freeze the moment where they trusted and loved each other.

He'd freeze a moment when it was all about them.

_Camp Half-Blood_

Annabeth woke up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. There were pictures tacked to the underside of the above bunk. She recognised Leo, Piper, Frank, Will, Hazel, Nico, Jason, Katie- people from both camps. The way they were standing, it was like there was supposed to be a third person in the picture but that person had been erased or was invisible or something.

_I swear on the River Styx that I know this boy and that he is very dear to me. He is the dearest thing in the world to me. He is my boyfriend. I will wake up not knowing this, but it is true, and I knew that last night which is why I wrote this note._

_ Annabeth Chase_

She frowned. There was no reoccurring boy in the picture.

_Camp Half-Blood_

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Annabeth asked. It was a pretty innocent question considering she hadn't 'met him' today. Percy felt himself fade inside, like every time she said this.

But today it was worst because he'd found out that Tyson had gotten hurt, Reyna had attacked Jason because he hadn't minded his distance, and Grover was still away in a location so secret he couldn't IM Percy, so he was _done._

He just got up and walked away before Will or Chiron could say anything to make him stay.

He stormed through the Big House, nearly ran over Mr D who was late to the counsellor meeting, and only got stopped when he was at the very end of the hall. And only because Piper tackled him. She was too petite to be strong enough to fully tackle him, but he stumbled and she got a hold of his arm and spun him towards her.

"Percy, don't leave." She said. Leo had caught up.

"I am so done," Percy said. "I am just- that's it." He groaned and kicked the wall. "I am so done with this world. I've saved it twice. I've dropped all my plans to preserve it, I've gotten hurt, I've gotten stomped on, I've gone on quests to keep it safe, the people around me got hurt- and in the end it just keeps going against me."

"Percy, that's not true," Piper said. "Oh gods," she said hugging him. He needed that hug but felt too crummy to return it. He was trying not to cry really hard.

"It's not the world vs. Percy, even if it feels like it," Piper said. "And do you know why?"

This was honest Piper, words from the heart and no charmspeak. Just the natural innocence and honesty of her voice.

"Because we're on your side. Leo, me, your cousins, Frank, your brother, your parents- gods, Percy, we were never against you. And we love you." Piper said. "And your deal is shit right now. But we're all with you. We've all gone against the world once, and for you and Jason we'll do it twice."

"You're not alone even if all the magic in the world would suddenly go wrong." Leo said.

Percy found the strength to return Piper's hug.

_Camp Jupiter_

It was midnight when there was a knock on his door. He expected it to be business and nearly pulled on a toga before pulling on a shirt and answering, but it ended up being Reyna.

At this point, after the day they'd just had, he rather it be Octavian. She was wearing her night clothes; a tank top, a very loose cardigan and sweats.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"For what?" Jason asked.

"For the day."

"It wasn't your fault."

"For showing up in the middle of the night, then."

"I never minded that. Just come in, it's freezing out."

She did and sat down on the couch. Same one as she usually sat on- so that was a good sign.

"I attacked you," Reyna said. "That… I can't forgive myself."

"I got too close, it was defence. It's alright. Really, it didn't hurt."

"You'll probably end up with a black eye."

"I get those all the time. Don't worry." Jason said.

"See, now you don't even want to come close and usually you're the needy one," Reyna said.

Jason sat down next to her and pulled her closer. "Just checking," he said. "I don't want to scare you."

"Last time we really honest-to-the-gods talked about this you told me that I'd said more fact than feelings." Reyna said. "Well here are the feelings: I don't want this. I don't want to forget you and think you'll hurt me because you, out of all people, would not. And it's not my choice and I did nothing to deserve it therefore it pisses me off more than anything. This goddess had no right to attack me."

"It's my fault," Jason blurted. He pulled away and buried his face in his hands. He didn't know what kind of look Reyna was giving him, and his grip had totally slipped so he didn't know if he even cared.

"She's going after you because I did. Because I nagged and flirted and tried to impress you for four years, and then I forgot about you, but I came back, and I came back to you. So it's my fault you're the one losing your memory because you're the one I love, but I'm sorry because I don't think I could not." He felt closer to crying than he had for… years. Lots of long years.

Reyna was the one who pulled him up to her. She came to him for reassurance, but ended up giving it to him. He felt so incapable right then.

"You know what?" Reyna asked.

"What?" Jason asked, forcing the word out evenly without stuttering or emotion.

"I rather wake up tomorrow not remembering my own name than never gotten your love." Reyna said. "I rather wake up tomorrow morning wondering where I was than never having met someone who never gave up on the good in me and found it."

They fell asleep on the couch together because they needed reassurance that was longer-term.

But it worked.

_Camp Half-Blood_

"Are you on the tour?" Annabeth called out. Percy looked up from where he and Grover were standing.

"No, I got one already." He said.

"Okay," Annabeth said. Newbies were whispering amongst each other. _That guy isn't new. Isn't he Percy Jackson? Why doesn't she know him? Oh my gods another monster._

"Come on guys, we'll head down to the arena." Annabeth said.

When she left Grover turned to Percy.

"She doesn't even kind-of remember?" Grover asked.

Percy shook his head.

"How long since you've last told her who you are?"

"Nine days." Percy said.

"Why did you stop?" Grover asked.

"Because it exhausted me," Percy said, "It confused her. And it hurt us both."

"So who told her yesterday?" Grover asked.

"Piper," Percy said. "The day before that it was Malcolm. Nyssa and Jake on Wednesday. Chiron on Tuesday."

"And who's going to tell her today?"

"Whoever feels like it." Percy said.

So Grover trotted off to go tell Annabeth, but then he backtracked.

"How long since she last told you she loved you?"

Percy gulped. "Two weeks."

"Well I'll tell you for her," Grover said. "She loves you."

And then he wandered off.

At the camp fire, Annabeth looked at him awkwardly as they sat next to each other. He'd have honestly felt better if she'd been sitting with her siblings. She wouldn't hug him or hold his hand, so of course there was no kissing. They couldn't rebuild a relationship in a day, much less the relationship they'd had. It was crazy.

She wanted to build something permanent, but now there was just no building to do anymore.

_Camp Jupiter_

He showed Percy the letter Gwen had given him through the IM.

"It's for the both of us," he said. "The girls wrote a letter, about a month ago."

A month ago they were only having memory farts.

"They told Gwen to give it to us when they don't remember anything."

_Yup, that's now, _Percy thought glumly.

"Do we… open it?" Jason hesitated.

"I guess," Percy said. Jason ripped through the top of the envelope and he took a deep breath.

"It smells like almonds," he said. "Also lemon."

Percy's heart tightened. That was them. Annabeth's shampoo and supposedly Reyna's body wash. Jason was just staring at it.

"The handwriting changes," Jason said. "Like, after a few sentences or a paragraph another one would grab the pen and write."

Percy could picture it easily.

"What does it say?" He asked.

Jason read.

"_Dear Jason and Percy,_

_We don't know how long until you read this letter, but by then we won't be able to tell you all of this ourselves. So the pen is mightier than the sword. Annabeth that's not funny_

_We're broken girls. We really are. We started off okay, like all little kids, but then something went wrong and everything changed. We went from reality to reality, getting trapped and spat on along the way. We made rules for ourselves and shut parts of ourselves down to try to keep that from happening again. You two are powerful by nature- and either because you're rebellious or generous you broke those rules for us._

_Jason; I didn't trust anybody but myself. I'd gone through some horrible things that still haunt me and I wasn't ready to forgive or forget anytime soon. And I'm still not ready, but the difference thing is that I found people to trust with my life. The first one was you. The last one was you. It's always you. It's always your stupid optimism and leadership. You made me better and you made me stronger in a way I thought I didn't have to be. To top it off you loved me. Thank you._

_Percy; I wasn't exactly easy to approach. I'd gone through my fair share of being left behind and I have always been a toughie. But when I came along for the first quest I realised one thing: I would not be left behind again. You would not abandon me, whether by death or choice. You would not slowly drift away from reality and change inexplicably. You would not kill our friendship. You would only treat me right for as long as you could. And you always have, and you've done even better than that; you've put up with my crap. And you love me despite that crap. Thank you._

_And you two… we don't want you two to become broken boys for a handful reasons. 1) Then some other bitches would come and fix you up and that's not cool with us. 2) You're both too beautiful to change. 3) We're not big or important enough for you two to give up and crack and break over._

_ So please stay strong. Dream up some dreams, pick the stupidest ones, and follow that one. _

_ We love you. We love who you are, despite your mistakes- the daily ones and the massive life-changing ones-, your flaws, and your annoyances and crazy, stupid (and sometimes lethal) habits. And we're not asking you to love us despite everything because that's not fair. We're just asking you to know that you changed us for good, and to know that there's a small part of us too deep down for us to know that will always remember that we were pulled out of dark places by incredible people._

_Love,_

_Reyna._

_Love you,_

_Annabeth _

Jason took a deep breath after reading it and kept at it. Percy was looking up, trying not to cry.

"They don't want us to break," Jason said. "We've got to keep strong then."

"Am I allowed to crack a little?" Percy asked.

"I think so," Jason said.

Tears slid down both of their cheeks.

_Camp Half-Blood_

Percy wasn't invulnerable anymore. He hadn't been for months.

But he'd always been vulnerable to what Annabeth made him feel.

_Camp Jupiter_

Jason had spent the last seven days with the Fifth cohort because Reyna's memory was too bad for him to even _think _about showing up in the principia without an invitation.

It was exhausting and he couldn't do his job. He'd just about caught Octavian getting ready to bring this up in the senate and totally pulverise the whole thing.

He'd talked to Percy through IM and he had the same problem. Counsellor meetings, activities- they just couldn't reintroduce themselves day after day without slowing down their girlfriends. Or were Annabeth and Reyna their exes? They'd never broken up. And it didn't feel like they had, it felt like they were just ghosts watching human activity.

"I can't reintroduce myself and make up lies about why in the world I'm a child of Poseidon day after day," Percy said. "Malcolm caught her crying in the cabin because she was just so confused about her memory and what people were telling her. I honestly can't do it anymore if that's what it's going to be like."

"Reyna's been telling Gwen that she's feeling incapable of doing her job," Jason said. "Feeling off, feeling dizzy and weak. Gods- she's not off she's… Octavian will probably take her out during tomorrow's senate meeting."

They both looked at each other, and Jason was pretty sure that Percy was the one to bring it up first. But Jason was the one to agree and think the plan through.

As per usual, but this was not usual. Actually, you'd think that both of them would have avoided them at all costs.

_Camp Half-Blood_

"So," Chiron said, "Today we're here to talk about the bug bite issues in cabins 7 through 15…"

"I have something to say first," Percy said.

Everyone shut up.

"Alright, Percy, you may share." Chiron said.

Percy got up.

"I got Malcolm to stall Annabeth tonight because she can't hear this but…" Percy took a deep breath. "I want all of you to stop reminding Annabeth of me. Of who I am, what we were, what we did. It's not good for either of us and it's… it's too painful now."

"Dude, she'll still ask." Will said. "She's Annabeth."

"That's why I'm going back to Camp Jupiter to get out of her way and let her be."

"What?" Leo said.

"What are you going to do there?" Katie asked, shocked.

"I'm going to take up my role as praetor again," Percy said. "Because Jason's coming back here."

"What?" Piper asked.

"We're slowing down Annabeth and Reyna. They could do great things but being around us is mentally and emotionally straining to them. So we're getting out of their ways." Percy said. "I love Camp and I love the people in it, you're all my friends and we've been through loads as a group but…" He shrugged. "You've got to do, what you've got to do."

_Camp Half-Blood_

Jason settled down in Thalia's alcove. Gods, he'd never wanted to spend another night there again by the time he'd left to go back home to Rome.

He leaned against the wall of the cabin and tilted his head back. Yet here he was. And it was probably for the painfully best.

There was a knock on the door and Piper and Leo let themselves in. Piper smiled weakly to try and give him courage. Usually his friends were happy to see him when they could, but their face obviously said _not this way._

"Hey man," Leo said. "Welcome back."

"Thanks," Jason said. They sat down on either side of him.

"We're sorry," Piper said. "We know you loved the fort, and your job, and that your friends are there."

Jason didn't know what to say. 'It's okay'? Well, it'd be okay eventually (probably. If you didn't break, it had to get better, right?), but eventually was not now.

"Like, really loved." Leo said.

"Just know that we're with you okay? For better or for worse." Piper said squeezing his hand.

"And even for the awkward in between parts." Leo added.

"Thanks guys," Jason said.

"And Annabeth feels sorry for you too," Piper said.

"Does she realise that Percy's going through the same thing?"

"No," Leo said. "She just thinks it's you and Reyna. Does Reyna think that?"

"I don't know," Jason said. "Probably."

She must've noticed that Jason's energy was slipping and his mind was darkening again.

"It's time to eat," Piper said getting up. "Come on. Its food and you are a teenage boy, you'll love it. Or do you want a moment?"

Jason didn't know. He didn't know where to take it from here, he felt even more alone despite his strong friendship with the two demigods in the –no, _his- _cabin.

_Don't break. _

The best way not to break was to hang out with the morale booster and repair boy, as far as Jason saw it. So he'd hold on to that for now, until he found something better or a place that didn't hurt.

"I'm starved," he said, getting up.

_Camp Jupiter_

Hazel and Frank were sitting next to him on the busted aqueduct outside the fort. They were barely looking at each other, and not touching or anything. They were just there, in silent and strong support, but it felt really awkward to Percy.

"You guys don't have to act like that," Percy said.

"Like what?" Hazel asked.

"Like you're not going out. Like you're not very obviously together." Percy said.

"Sorry," Frank said. He'd been treating Percy like a time bomb. "We just thought it was too sensitive."

"No, man. It makes me happy. My baby cousin and great-great-whatever-you-are are happy. It makes me happy that some things work out." Percy said.

"I'm not your baby cousin," Hazel replied instinctively.

"Yeah, and we'd agreed that I was just _friend." _Frank said. "Praetor Jackson My Lord."

"Shut up," Frank said shoving him.

"Don't make me fall!" Hazel yelped.

"Sorry," Frank said rushing to apologise. That nearly made Percy smile, just being with great people.

Reyna and Annabeth had said it: _we were pulled out of dark places by incredible people._

Percy had a feeling that he was surrounded by the right kind of people to have that happen.

_Epilogue_

_10 years later_

"Okay guys," Ms. Gwendolyn Holly, legacy of Cupid and Apollo, told her class of sixth graders. "We're going to go over the praetors from the twenty-first century and up. Julius, you can start with the year 2000."

"Carla Holmes and Hadrian Johnson-Smith," he said. "March 1999-September 2000."

"Very good. Genevieve, after that?" Ms. Holly asked.

And so they talked and talked, some names she remembered from seeing the faces of those praetors as they marched in front of her at muster. Some were still popular gossip when she'd joined.

"Jason Grace and Reyna Knight- August 18th 2009 to November 3rd 2010."

"Why were they elected?" Gwen asked, springing up a random question.

"They led the siege on Mount Othrys when the other praetors refused, and stopped the Titan Krios from destroying San Francisco and eventually Olympus." Aurelia replied.

"Fantastic. What was special about their term?"

"Jason Grace went missing because of the war with Gaia." Marius said from the back row.

"Yes, so what happened?"

Aureila's hand shot up. "Perseus Jackson was elected making him the first Greek praetor ever."

"Exactly," Gwen said. "And when did he back down?"

"On August 5th 2010," Marcus said from the front row. "After the war with Gaia was over. Jason Grace took the second term."

"Exactly," Gwen said. "And who had the term after them?"

A shy girl named Sabina raised her hand. "Reyna Knight and Percy Jackson."

"Perfect," Gwen said. "And after them?"

"Wait, Miss?" Her usually doodle-busy student Nero asked. "Why did Percy Jackson get the term again?"

Students mumbled with each other. _Yeah, that's right, why? It's totally weird, what happened? A Greek got the term twice? What happened to Jason Grace?_

"Didn't he leave Rome, Miss?" A bright young boy named Remus asked.

"He did," Gwen said carefully. "But not in cowardice or anger- definitely not in cowardice or anger." She crossed her legs and laced her fingers. All the students were looking at their teacher, sitting on her stool and unsure what to say.

"Okay what I'm going to tell you I know for a fact because I was there," Gwen said. "You do remember my telling you that I was the Centurion of the Fifth Cohort during the siege of Mount Othrys and that I replaced Frank Zhang during the war with Gaia."

Her students nodded.

And so Gwen explained.

"Why doesn't anybody know this?" Sabina asked. The legacy had tears in her eyes- sometimes having the blood of both Cupid and Venus in her veins could overwhelm her emotions.

"Because Jason and Percy didn't want to hurt the two girls," Gwen said. "They did a very brave thing."

"Why isn't it in the history books?"

"Because it's not in the legion's official history," Gwen said. "The memory loss was, but not the emotional reasons for the departure and arrival."

"So where are all of them now?" Marius asked.

"Well, you may recall that Reyna was killed during official duty for the United States military," Gwen said. "There was a Roman funeral in Camp Jupiter four years ago. Annabeth Chase was attacked at a conference in New Rome; she'd been invited to speak of her design of the newest campus of Harvard University."

"But the boys are alive?" Hadrian asked.

"Well, Percy Jackson works in a veterinarian hospital in New York City, specialising with horses. Jason Grace lived in New Rome, but he's currently very, very sick. So we don't know how that's going to end."

"Did anybody ever have another girlfriend or boyfriend?" Sabina asked.

"The two girls focused on their careers before love," Gwen said. "I think each of the boys tried, but it never worked out."

The class awed. A few of the guys rolled their eyes.

"Yes," Gwen said. "It's a very sad story." She remembered flashes of moments and kisses and conversations she'd had with each struggling amnesiac. She had to change the subject. "But that won't be on the quiz, so let's get back to business, shall we?"

_90 years later_

The guitar strums got slower and all the demigods did the hand clapping that accompanied the song that everyone recognised, and regularly closed off the camp fires. All the couples snuggled up when the song came on; not because it was romantic, but because it reminded everyone of their own mortality and the mortality of everything around them, alive or not.

_"Keep me in your memory_

_Keep me in your heart_

_Keep my hand in yours, love_

_I can't bare us apart._

_Magic twisting darkly_

_A plan for tragedy_

_Keep my heart in yours, love_

_I want you to stay with me._

_Slowly drifting away_

_Like driftwood at sea_

_Keep your eyes on mine, love_

_Please recognise me._

_So far from you, my dear_

_I'm out of your memory_

_Keep your faith in mine, love_

_I want this to stay a love story_

_Now it's definitely over_

_Though I have fought so hard_

_I'll keep away from you, love_

_Me and my heart in shards." _


End file.
